Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 2, Part 116

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1172

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 2 > Part 116

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As a boy William J. Coyle studied in the schools of Waterbury, and after graduating from the high school he attended successively St. Hyacinthe Col- lege, in Quebec, the University of Niagara. St. John's University, at Fordham, N. Y., and Montreal Grand Seminary. Then he began the study of med- icine with Dr. North, of Waterbury, and later en- tered the medical and surgical department of Bnf- falo University, at Buffalo, N. Y., from which he was graduated Feb. 24, 1885. During the succeed- ing spring, summer and fall he took his brother-in- law's practice at Binghamton, N. Y., and in the following winter located at Windsor Locks, Conn., where he soon built up a large country practice in the towns of Windsor, East Windsor, Windsor Locks, East Granby, Suffield and Enfield. At pres- ent he is medical examiner for the Northwestern Mutual Insurance Co., the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Benevolent Legion, and the Hive of the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World. Ile is also

active in local affairs, having been a valued member of the school board for the past twelve years.

On Jan. 14, 1880, Dr. Coyle was married, at Auburn, N. Y., to Miss Mary Elizabeth, daughter of James and Mary Ann Mulheron, and five chil- dren have brightened their home: Mary, Annie, Loretta, William and Bruce. In religious faith the Doctor is a Catholic, and he and his wife are promi- nent members of St. Mary's Parish, Windsor Locks.

JOHN L. KELLY, A. B., M. D., one of the younger medical practitioners of New Britain, has evinced in the opening of his career the advantages which come professionally to the graduate of med- ical science in its present advanced stage of develop- ment. He has given special attention to the mastery of the more recent discoveries, and in his practice during the past several years has attained more than the usual degree of success.

Dr. Kelly was born March 7, 1868, at New Britain. His father, John J. Kelly, is a native of Limerick, Ireland, where he was born in the year 1846. His youth was passed in his native land, assisting his father, John Kelly, a carpenter, in the manufacture of small wooden articles. He received a good schooling, and when about twenty years of age emigrated to America, locating about 1866 at Petersburg, Va., where for a time he was employed as foreman on a large plantation. Later he removed to New Britain, where he worked for a time for the Corbins, and later entered the Stanley works, polishing butts, and becoming a contractor with profit and success. This business he followed for about fourteen years, when he retired. John J. Kelly is in religious faith a Roman Catholic, and in politics a Democrat, though he has never taken an active part in party affairs. He is distinctly a self- made man, and has been successful in life. He married Catherine Mead. of New Britain, daugh- ter of John Mead, now deceased.

John L. Kelly was educated in the public schools of New Britain, and was graduated in 1888. For a period of about nine months with each firm he was then bookkeeper for P. F. McCarty and John E. Stack, successively. In the fall of 1800 he en- tered Holy Cross College, at Worcester, Mass., where he remained three years and was graduated in 1892, taking the degree of A. B. In the fall of 1892 he entered the Medical School of Yale Col- lege, whence he was graduated in 1896. During his professional course Dr. Kelly made a special study of bacteriology, then rising into prominence in the medical world. In September. 1896, Dr. Kelly be- gan practice at New Britain. He has attained great success, die largely to the close application which he has ever bestowe l upon his medical education. He has followed general practice, devoting consid- crable attention to diagnosis. Dr. Kelly is a mem- ber of the New Britain Medical Society. Fraternally he belongs to Lodge No. 10, Order of Chosen Friends, and to Court Friendly, No. 45, Foresters. It is to his credit that his professional training is

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born Sept. 19, 1858, a daughter of Charles E. and Ann (Bronson) Warner, of New Britain, who graduated from the New Britain Normal, and taught school several years in Kensington. By the second marriage there is also a son, Harry Edmond, who was born Sept. 7, 1883, and is now in the office of Russell & Erwin's factory, New Britain. Ile at- tended the schools of Kensington and the Normal at New Britain, and took a commercial course at Mourse's Business College. The wife and mother is a member of the Congregational Church, but Mr. Taylor holds membership in the Methodist Church of Kensington. Socially he belongs to Mattabesett Tribe, No. 14, I. O. R. M .; is a charter member of Meriden Lodge, New England Order of Protection ; a member of the American Mechanics : Independent Order Foresters; and Putnam Phalanx, Hartford.

HON. JEFFERY O. PHELPS (deceased) was born in Simsbury, Hartford county, Aug. 3, 1820, and descended from one of the oldest, wealthiest and most numerous families of Windsor as well as Simsbury, whose members have been famous as soldiers, statesmen, jurists and financiers.

The Phelps family of Simsbury trace their an- cestry to William Phelps, who came from Tewkes- bury, England, where he was born in 1599, and was one of New England's early colonists. His sons, Joseph, born in England about 1629, died in Sims- bury in 1684; Joseph (2) was born here Aug. 20, 1667; Lieut. David, May 7, 1710; Maj .- Gen. Noah, Jan. 22, 1740; Col. Noah A., May 3, 1762; Jeffery O. (father of our subject), Feb. 1, 1791 ; and Jef- fery O. (the subject of this sketch), Aug. 3, 1820.

William Phelps came to America in the ship "Mary and John," and landed in Hull, Mass., May 30, 1630. He lived five years in Dorchester, Mass .; then came with the first settlers to Windsor, Hart- ford county, where he died July 14, 1672, the father of seven children: Richard was born in 1619; William first married Isabella Wilson, and later Sarah Pinney; Samuel married Sarah Griswold, and died May 15, 1669; Nathaniel married Eliza- beth Copley, and moved to Northampton ; Joseph was the first of the family to settle in Simsbury ; Timothy, who was born Sept. 1, 1639, married Mary Griswold, and died in 1719; and Mary was married to Thomas Barber, of Simsbury.

Joseph Phelps, above mentioned, on coming to Simsbury settled on a tract of land under Talcott Mountain. On Sept. 20, 1660, he married Hannah Newton, a daughter of Roger Newton, and to this union were born Joseph (2), Hannah, Timothy, Sarah and William. Mrs. Hannah Phelps died in 1675, and Joseph in 1684

Joseph Phelps (2) was born in Windsor, and died in Simsbury Jan. 10, 1750. He first married Mary Collier, of Hartford. His second wife was Sarah Case, daughter of John and Sarah (Spencer) Case, of Simsbury ; she died May 2, 1704, and Joseph next married Mary Case, daughter of Rich- ard and Elizabeth (Purchase) Case. His third wife died Sept. 10, 1757. To the first marriage of

Joseph Phelps (2) were born three children: Jo- seph, Oct. 9, 1689, settled at Turkey Hill; Han- nah, Oct. 25, 1693, was married to Samuel Hum- phrey; Mary, Oct. 17, 1696, died Jan. 9, 1713. To the second marriage were born Sarah, Aug. II, 1700, who died June 14, 1714, and Damaris, March 5, 1703, who married John Mills, of Canton. To the third marriage were born four children: John, Feb. 14, 1707, died Jan. 5, 1713; Elizabeth, April 7, 1700, married Daniel Hoskins July 23, 1725; Lieut. David, May 7, 1710; and Amos, who mar- ricd Sarah Pettibone.

Lieut. David Phelps, son of Joseph (2), a na- tive of Simsbury, married, April 25, 1731, Abigail Pettibone, who was born in the same town April 22, 1706, and was a daughter of John (Jr.) and Mary ( Bissell) l'ettibone. David Phelps was com- missioned lieutenant of militia in 1756, served in the French and Indian war, and died of smallpox Dec. 10, 1760, his remains being buried at Sims- bury. His widow married Deacon David Strong, of Bolton, and died Oct. 17, 1787, and in her honor the chapter of the D. A. R. at Simsbury was named. The children born to Lieut. David Phelps and his wife were ten in number : David, born May 7, 1732, died July 9, of the same year; David (2), born March 26, 1734, was the ancestor of the Dodge family of Simsbury; Abigail, born Nov. 5, 1735, was married (first) to a Mr. Griswold and (second) to Amasa ·Case; Elisha, born Oct. 17, 1737, was a captain in the Revolutionary war, and died in Al- bany, N. Y., July 14, 1776; Maj .- Gen. Noah was born Jan. 22, 1740; Rachel, born Dec. 10, 1741, was married to Col. Daniel Ilumphrey, a delegate to the convention that ratified the Federal Constitution ; Ruth was born Sept. 15, 1743; Sarah, Oct. 15, 1745; Susannah, Jan. 4, 1748; and Lois, March 27, 1750.

Maj .- Gen. Noah Phelps, great-grandfather of our subject, married Lydia Griswold, of Poquonock, a daughter of Capt. George Griswold, of Windsor. She was born April 25, 1743, and died Sept. 17, 1821, having lost her husband March 4, 1809. The children born to the General and wife were five in number: Noah A., mentioned below; Lydia G., born Feb. 25, 1764; Chandley Conway. Oct. 22, 1766; George G., Aug. 18, 1773 (died in Ohio) ; and Elisha, Nov. 16, 1779. The last named was one of the prominent men of the State. He owned the first piano and the first Brussels carpet in Sims- bury. He was an attorney, and represented his district in Congress. On April 16, 1810, he mar- ried, at Middletown, Conn., Lucy Smith, and they had one son, who became governor of Missouri and a member of Congress; and two daughters, one of whom, Lucy Jane, married Amos R. Eno, whose biography appears elsewhere; Mary A. married John Allen, of Saybrook. Gen. Phelps, who was born on the cast side of the Farmington river, set- tled in the village of Simsbury some years after his marriage, and lived on the property now owned by the Amos Eno heirs. He was identified with sev- cral industries of the town, and was very promi-

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nent, especially in military circles. He was com- missioned a lieutenant in the militia in 1771, cap- tain in 1774, lieutenant-colonel in 1777, brigadier- general in 1792, and major-general in 1796, and the documents pertaining thereto are now in the pos- session of Dr. Henry Eno, of Saugatuck, Conn. Gen. Phelps, among other daring deeds, passed alone through the enemy's lines at Ticonderoga, was there shaved, gathered all the information lie desired, and was being rowed back across the river enroute to his own corps when the oarsman sus- pected him to be an American. He started to return to the British lines, but the General, being the stronger man of the two, compelled the ferryman to finish the trip. It was due to the information thus gleaned by. Gen. (then Capt. ) Phelps that Ethan Allen planned his attack on and captured Fort Ticonderoga the day following. Gen. Phelps also served as the second judge of probate at Sims- bury, and as justice of the peace, as well as sheriff, and was the owner of considerable property.

Col. Noah Amherst Phelps, grandfather of our subject, died June 19, 1817. On July 31. 1784, he married Charlotte Wilcox, who was born April 4, 1766, and died Dec. 15, 1831, the mother of the following named children : Charlotte Melissa, born Oct. II, 1786, married Frederick Jewett. of Granby, and died Dec. 29, 1871. Noah A., Jr., born Oct. 16 1788, married (first) Delia Clark, of Bloom- field, and (second) Catherine St. John, of New Hlaven : he was State comptroller at one time, was well known all over the State, and died in Sims- bury. Jeffery O. was the father of our subject. Fanny Rosanna, born March 8, 1795, married Jona- than Pettibone, Jr., and died Aug. 22. 1877, in Willimantic, Conn. Hector F., born July 25, 1797, was a farmer, married Roxanna Selina Barnard. and died Feb. 10, 1874. Emma Maria, born Dec. 10, 1799, was married to William Mather, Jr., and died March 21, 1862. Guy Rowland, born April I, 1802, became a physician, later manufactured pro- prietary medicines, and was the founder of the Con- necticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., realizing a large competence ; his death took place in March, 1869, in Hartford, his remains being interred in Simsbury : his only child is Miss Antoinette Ran- dolph Phelps, of Hartford. George Dwight Phelps, the youngest of this family, was born April 16, 1804, and when a young man went to New York City, began his business life as a clerk in a drug store at the corner of Wall and Water streets, later became proprietor, acquired a large estate through his own efforts, and died Aug. 31. 1872. The father of these graduated from Yale College with the class of 1783, studied law, and practiced in Simsbury. He was a colonel of militia, was active in public affairs, frequently serving as member of the State Legislature, and at the time of his death was postmaster. At one time he kept a tavern at Simsbury which was extraordinarily popular. He was kind and generous and a leader among men.

Jeffery Orson Phelps, father of our subject, was

born in East Weatogue District, and was four years old when his parents settled in Hop Bottom Meadow, Simsbury village, taking possession of the house built in 1771 by Elisha Phelps, a brother of Maj .- Gen. Noah Phelps. When twelve years old Jeffery O. left school, and at that early age com- menced working out at chopping wood for thirty- five cents per cord. Boy as he was, while at this work, he communed within himself, "I'll own this land, some time," and so it came to pass. He vol- unteered for the war of 1812, was appointed pay- master, and did all his own menial work, drawing pay for such servant hire, as officers of his rank were entitled to do. Thus he secured his start in life, and after serving three months returned to his home, was soon afterward appointed deputy sheriff, and for thirty years filled the office. On March 20, 1820, the property he had worked on as a boy was offered for sale at auction, and Mr. Phelps became the purchaser. In 1826 he took a contract to construct three-quarters of a mile of the New Haven & Northampton canal at Simsbury; this was heavy work, but he made money out of it. Henry Farnham, chief engineer, was favorably im- pressed with the way Mr. Phelps did his work, and secured for him a position as overseer, which he retained until 1848.

While serving as sheriff Mr. Phelps was ap- pointed judge of the old county court, served two or three years, and was also postmaster at Simsbury, where he likewise kept a tavern, and rented lodg- ings at twelve and one-half cents per night. Nat- urally, as sheriff and judge, the attention of Mr. Phelps was called to the statutes of the county and State, so he instructed himself in the laws, and being of a quick and comprehensive intellect he so improved himself in this line that, comparatively uneducated as he was, he was hired to prepare cases for such lawyers at Isaac Toucey, Mr. Hun- gerford, Charles Chapman and Martin Wells, and finally was admitted to the Bar.

In June, 1853. occurred a memorable disaster on the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, and Mr. Phelps was at once selected as attorney for the company in settling up claims for damages. this work calling him all over the United States. In the celebrated case of the alleged fraudulent issue of stock in the same railroad, by Robert Schuyler. Mr. Phelps represented the company be- fore the Legislature of the State of New York, in order to prevent that body from making the alleged fraudulent issue valid, and in this effort he suc- ceeded. For seventeen years he was in the employ of this company and others, and during his career he settled up many of the heaviest claims ever brought against the New York, New Haven & Hartford road. All this time he resided at Sims- bury, but had an office in New Haven for a part of the period, and he practiced law up to his death, which occurred March 21, 1879.

Mr. Phelps was twice married. His first wife, who bore the maiden name of Pollina Salome Barn-

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ard, was a native of Simsbury, and a daughter of Ebenezer and Mary ( Pinney ) Barnard. She died April 6, 1828, the mother of four children: Eb- enezer B., born Aug. 21, 1817, died in 1863 ; Jeffery O. is the subject of this sketch; Mary P., born Oct. 15, 1822, became the wife of Nathaniel B. Stevens, of Winsted ; and Charlotte W., born April 3. 1825, was married to Dudley P. Ely, and died in Williamsburg, N. Y. Mr. Phelps for his sec- ond wife wedded, on Jan. 2, 1829, Lydia G. Hum- phrey, who was a granddaughter of Gen. Noah Phelps. She died childless June 6, 1866, she, her husband and his first wife all dying at the home of Jeffery O. Phelps, the subject of this sketch.

Mr. Phelps was a Democrat, but not much of a politician. He was born in the faith of the Con- gregational Church, but was never a member of any of its congregations. As the Methodist Church was weak and small in his day, he sympathized with it, and asked its members to raise $1,000 to aid in erecting a church edifice, agreeing to supply the balance, which he did, and the present Methodist meeting-house was completed in 1840. He was a constant reader of the Bible, was liberal, and helped those in need, but was exacting in business trans- actions. He was an interesting conversationalist, deliberate in speech, was not slow in expressing his opinions, touch whom they might, and never said a word he had to "take back." He was self-made, and left property valued at over $400,000, but had never been a speculator. Physically he was well formed, and his weight was about 200 pounds.

Jeffery O. Phelps, son of Judge Jeffery O. Phelps, spoken of in full in the foregoing para- graphs, attended school at Simsbury, in the Hop Meadow District, with Nancy Chapman as one of his first teachers. In 1838 he went to Amherst Col- lege for eleven weeks, and in the fall of 1839 at- tended the Connecticut Literary Institute, at Suf- field, and here ended his schooling. He began work by driving a canal team for a short time, and then joined his father and brother in the multiple pur- suits of the former.

On Oct. 24, 1852, Mr. Phelps first married, at the town of Brainbridge, Chenango Co., N. Y., Miss Jane Humphrey, daughter of Austin N. and Amelia ( Higley ) Humphrey. Mrs. Phelps was born in Canton, Conn., Feb. 16, 1826, but removed to New York with her parents, and after her mar- riage returned with her husband to Connecticut. For four years they lived with Jeffery (). Phelps, Sr., in the house in which her husband was born, and in which her eldest two children had their birth. Four children in all came to grace this union : Harriet H., Jeffery O. (3), Charlotte W. and Mary J. Of these, Harriet H., born Aug. 14, 1856, was married to Aaron L. Eno, and had three chil- dren, Jane H., Sarah G. and Harry P. Jeffery (). (3), born Aug. 30, 1858, graduated from Williston Seminary, was for some years secretary and treas- urer of the lowa Mortgage Co., and is now in the

iron business in Hartford; he married Bertha G. Adams, daughter of Hiram and Jane (Griswold) Adams, of Bloomfield, and has one child, Jeffery O. (4). Charlotte W. was born Dec. 27, 1860, in the house to which her father had removed from the home place, and just opposite his late residence : she is one of the well-known ladies of the D. A. R., is married to James K. Crofut, in the iron trade at Hartford, and has had one child, Charlotte, born Nov. 1, 1885. Mary J., born Nov. 13, 1865, is the wife of Joseph R. Ensign, of Simsbury.

Mrs. Jane ( Humphrey ) Phelps was called from earth April 30, 1874, and Aug. 13, 1879, Mr. Phelps married Miss Eleanor A. Crandall, who was born in Oswego, N. Y., Feb. 19, 1849. This lady is highly educated, has fine literary taste, was a suc- cessful school teacher, is an active member of the Methodist Church and of the D. A. R., and one of the leading ladies of Simsbury.

In politics Mr. Phelps was a Democrat, and never voted any other ticket, save with one excep- tion, in 1896, when he cast his vote for a warm personal friend, Lorrin Cooke, the Republican can- didate for governor. He was himself elected to the Lower House of the General Assembly in 1856, and the same year was also town clerk. In 1867 he served in the State Senate, representing the Third District. He likewise served in every office-with the exception of that of probate judge-within the gift of the people of his town, and was true as steel in every position so held. At the time of his death he was and had been for a number of years president of the board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Simsbury.

As a farmer Mr. Phelps was one of the most extensive in the State. In 1865 he and his father owned 2,500 acres, but from time to time such tracts as they were unable to utilize for cultivation them- selves were disposed of by sale until, at the father's death, the total retained reached but 1,575 acres ; yet Mr. Phelps continued to be, and for fifty years had been, the largest landholder in Simsbury, own- ing at his death 500 acres under cultivation, and paying taxes in Hartland, Windsor, Canton, South- wick, Bloomfield and Simsbury towns. In his latter years he farmed simply because he wanted to keep himself employed. Some of his hands worked for him thirty-five years, and right in Simsbury some worked for him from ten to fifteen years. No man knew better than he how to handle help, and his helpers were his friends. He went on the bond of many a poor young man, at a time when it meant everything to the latter. He was very public- spirited, was ever favorable toward local improve- ments, and contributed freely toward the promotion of all that promised to be beneficial to Simsbury. When the Hartford & Connecticut Western rail- road was projected, about thirty years ago, lie and his father were among the first to recognize its advantages to Simsbury, and were among its most enthusiastic promoters; at the time of his death

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Mr. Phelps was a director in the company, as he had previously been a director in the National Exchange Bank of Hartford.

Mr. Phelps was a hard worker from boyhood, but was physically well preserved almost to the last, although his eighty years of toil had begun to show somewhat plainly; at the same time his mentality was unimpaired, and his memory still retentive. He was a thorough gentleman, and had probably a larger number of warm-hearted friends in Hart- ford and adjoining counties than any other resi- dent of Simsbury. The inevitable came Aug. 6, 1899, when he passed away at his home in Sims- bury, and his remains were interred on the 9th, in the Simsbury cemetery, being followed to the grave by the largest cortege ever seen in the town.

PARK BREWSTER. This well-known and deservedly esteemed citizen of Manchester has passed the greater part of his active life as a teacher in the States of Connecticut and New York. He was born at Preston, New London Co., Conn., Sept. 15, 1823, son of Ephraim S. and Hulda (Giddings) Brewster, who while he was a mere child of three years moved to Mystic, and from that place-seven years later-to Greenville.

At nine years of age Mr. Brewster began work- ing in the cotton and woolen mills at Mystic, at- tending the district school as opportunity offered. His early education, however, was mainly received. from his father, a man of scholarly training and ripe education, and was supplemented by study at Greenville, Norwich and in the Standish (Conn.) Grammar school.

Mechanical pursuits and factory life not prov . ing congenial to the youth, he at the age of twenty began his pedagogical career at Lisbon, Conn. His next engagement was at Mystic, where he taught for two winters, and thence he went to Norwich (now Norwich Falls), the following year removing to North Hempstead, Queens county, Long Island, at which place and in its immediate vicinity he followed his chosen profession for twenty-seven years. This period was followed by a year spent as instructor in the Bacon Academy, and he was subsequently engaged at East Williams- burg, near Brooklyn, where he taught five years. At the expiration of that time (1880) he came to Manchester, Conn., where he had purchased a val- uable property, and after teaching on Spencer street, South Manchester, returned to a well-earned rest. IJe is now spending the autumn of his life in scholar- ly leisure and intellectual cultivation.

In 1853 Mr. Brewster was married to Miss Eunice Wheeler. They had no children, but adopt- ed Eunice Boyce, who is now the wife of John P. Wheeler, with whom Mr. Brewster makes his home, Mrs. Brewster having died in 1891. Our subject is a devout member of the Second Congre- gational Church of Manchester and an earnest worker in the cause of temperance. He believes

in carrying his religious convictions into the field of politics, and has therefore allied himself with the Prohibition party.

GEORGE W. LAWRENCE, M. D., is one of the most popular and successful physicians of Ber- lin, although he is one of the younger representa- tives of the profession. A native of New Hamp- shire, he was born in Roxbury April 2, 1869, and traces his ancestry back to the first settlers of Con- cord, Mass. They have all been modest and unas- suming people. Abbott Lawrence, minister to Eng- land under President Grant, was a member of the same family.

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Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 2, Part 116

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1172

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1172